Recently, I’ve been on an ice cream-making kick – lowfat vanilla, nocino, blackberry buttermilk, various attempts at the “perfect” chocolate, and then this past weekend, basil buttermilk. Part of this recent ice cream explosion is motivated by...

One of the many benefits of living in central Iowa is relatively easy access to high quality local food during the summer and early fall. Whether that means shopping at the local co-op, driving out to a nearby u-pick fruit farm, or heading to one of several...

One of my favorite dishes to make this time of year is one that I actually discovered on a flight to Washington D.C. Last year I was headed to visit my sister and I grabbed a copy of Food & Wine to take with me on the plane. The Green Tomatoes with Pistachio...

I originally developed the peanut butter cake recipe for my friend Shoshana and she’s made the recipe several times both with and without my help. I tend to use my kitchen scale when baking because it’s easier to be consistent when baking by weight and I...

I gave up pop or soda (depending on the region you hail from) years ago because of my running, but even when I was a kid, ginger ale was never a huge part of my diet. However, after sampling ginger beer (alcoholic, unlike non-alcoholic ginger ale) while traveling in...

My maternal grandmother, Joyce, is famous for her chocolate fudge. I don’t know how many batches she’s made over the years, but its either hundreds or thousands at this point. Every Christmas Grandma gives each family, or grandchild living away from home,...

Poppop’s healthy pancakes are near and dear to my heart. On occasion, Poppop (my grandpa) and Grammy Marilyn would have the whole Bulat family over on the weekend for a big breakfast; Poppop’s pancakes were always served and are a family favorite. I clearly remember...

At the beginning of the holiday season I was asked by my boss, Bob, to develop a holiday scone for The Café (a.k.a. the restaurant that I work at). The first idea that came to mind was an eggnog scone. To develop the scone, I started with the base scone recipe that...

I’ve put off writing this for a few weeks because I just didn’t want to think about it. One of my favorite local producers, Northern Prairie Chevre, won’t be returning next season. While it has always been a year round operation, they didn’t...

This is one of my standby desserts that I can pull out when I want to impress, but don’t have the energy for a major effort. There are several steps, but nothing about this recipe is complicated. While originally a two layer cake, I like the look of a four layer...

A few weeks ago I opened my freezer and found blue gel running down packages and pooling on the bottom. I hoped that it was an ice pack, but sadly it was coming from my ice cream maker. It looks like the weak spot is where the bowl snaps into the back of the mixer to...